No Worries
by Stelena-Beautiful
Summary: When you are stuck in an elevator, it's truly best not to panic in front of your post-it-note husband's best friend. You'll probably never hear the end of it. A Meredith and Mark  friendship-ish  one shot.


**Title:** No Worries

**Rating:** T for language

**Fandom:** Grey's Anatomy

**Characters:** Mark Sloan and Meredith Grey

**Status:** Complete (one shot)

**Author's Note:** This is dedicated to my friend Brandy who requested a MerMark story from me. She probably wanted smut in it but eh, I wasn't feeling it at the moment lol Hope she - and you all - enjoy it anyway!

**Summary:** Mark and Meredith are unexpectedly stuck in a stopped elevator at the hospital. Mark's cool as a cucumber. At first anyway...

* * *

"We've been in here for ten freaking minutes already," Meredith said. "When are they going to get us out of _here?"_ She banged both of her open palms on the double metal doors in annoyed emphasis. "Dammit," she finally hissed and sank halfway down the opposite wall in defeat.

Mark watched her from the other side of the elevator. He was already sitting - Indian-style - and looking decidedly comfortable with his head resting against the wall. He did not appear to have a care in the world.

He just shrugged. "I didn't know you were afraid of confined spaces, Meredith," he said. "I kind of thought you liked them."

Meredith stared at him_. "Me?_ Like confined spaces? Yeah right. Who would like being stuck in a nearly-airless tube except maybe coal-miners or something ...?"

"Well all I know is that you and Derek seem to stop the elevator at least twice a week for a good ten minutes. Usually early Wednesdays and Fridays when he's supposed to be doing rounds... You two have been doing that for almost as long as I've been working here."

Meredith blushed but tried her best to cover the redness by rubbing her face like she had a sudden pesty tick in both cheeks.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she finally said.

"You should be aware, Meredith, that when you and Derek play hide the rainbow roll and screw against the emergency stop button your voices carry many floors down. And then of course, there's the video evidence..." Mark smirked as Meredith's jaw dropped. "The city monitors the elevators. Security is important in a hospital after all... Please don't tell me you haven't thought of that."

"Ohmigod ..."

"Yeah Derek has got more moves than I ever would have guessed and you -" he smirked lasciviously - "and you well, you surprised me. You really know how to let your hair down when you think no one's watching."

"You - you've seen - us?" Meredith gasped, hand flying to her throat. She looked horrified. Downright horrified by the idea of Mark - or anyone - having seen her and Derek doing it in the elevator. She recalled vividly that just last week she had gone down on Derek and even swallowed. What if that was really on the hospital security tapes and everyone had seen it? But god, why hadn't someone mentioned this before now? She was humiliated. She had been annoyed when first trapped inside the elevator with Mark; now she was developing a full-blown case of claustrophobia.

"Who hasn't?" Mark asked. "You're legendary around here. The things you and my old pal do ... Well, I thought I knew tricks in the bedroom but you guys take the cake. I am practically virginal in comparison."

Meredith's amber eyes snapped to his hazel ones immediately. "Okay. Alright. Now I know you're bullshitting me."

Mark grinned widely. "What do you mean?"

"You are full of shit just as I said. And even more than that, you're cocky as hell."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"_The point_ is, Mark, that you pride yourself on being known around these parts and everywhere else as some kind of sexual dynamo. There is no way you'd admit that Derek knows things you don't in the bedroom - or the elevator - as the case maybe be. Not with the pissing contest you two have had going for like the past thousand years."

Mark nodded. "Alright you caught me. I haven't seen the tapes. I don't know if they really exist. There were rumors -" he held up a hand to stop her before she could protest - "but I haven't seen the evidence myself. I was just trying to distract you from worrying about the elevator being stuck. The way we're stalled about fifteen flights above ground ..."

Meredith swallowed hard and then spat, "You are such a pain in the ass. Seriously. You are too calm and collected right now. I have to scrub in for surgery in -" she glanced at her watch - "exactly three minutes and it looks like I'm going to miss it. I was supposed to work with Richard today. That's an honor in my book and I dammit, I'm going to miss out."

She finally sunk to the ground herself and crossed her thin arms across her chest. She looked at Mark again. "Don't you ever worry about anything though? Or do you just take everything in stride?"

Mark shrugged. "I worry about what I need to and the rest I just try to put out of my head."

"So in other words, you aren't concerned about much in this world, huh?" Meredith said. "As long as you have a warm body next to you -"

"Hey c'mon, Meredith, no judgments alright? As founding members of the dirty mistresses club, we are sort of allies, so don't just assume things. Especially when you don't know what you're talking about."

"Sorry ..."

"I do worry. Okay? Is that good enough for you? I worry about things that I really can't control. Or feel I can't control. Like how my daughter came into my life and then walked out in about two seconds and hasn't called or even emailed me or texted me so much as two letters in weeks. How I am can't stop messing up things with your sister. How Callie might be pregnant -"

"Ohmigod. Callie is -"

"Maybe," Mark said quickly. "Maybe... She's been hiding from me lately, acting really weird and mysterious. So I cornered her about ten minutes before we walked on here. She admitted she's late. And supposedly she's usually like clockwork so... The timeframe works out ..."

"Lexie. It's going to kill Lexie if yet another woman has your child."

"I know," Mark admitted. "I don't want to hurt her. But I don't want Callie out of my life either and I honestly don't want a potential baby to just be gone either. Because I think I would like a real chance to be a father. Something Sloan won't let me be to her.

"I am truly freaked out because I don't want to mess up the kid's life -_ if_ there is a kid. So yes, Meredith, I do worry a lot. But thinking about an elevator suspended in mid-air ... Well, that's a cakewalk compared to all the balls up in the air now, so to speak, and the rollercoaster ride that my life is on a regular basis."

Meredith sighed. "I don't honestly know what to say."

"You and me both ..."

"I think this is the most we've talked to each other in years. Maybe ever... I got out of the dirty mistresses club by having my post-it-note wedding and you -"

"Will likely be a member for life," Mark conceded with a little smile. "Once a manwhore and all that ... And yes, I know that's what everyone calls me behind my back. Sometimes they say it to my face. Which is okay because I just don't think that that happily ever after deal could ever work out for me."

"Maybe you don't want it to."

"Maybe."

"Or maybe you're just scared it won't work out, or worse, that it will be boring being settled and content. But I can tell you not to worry too much about that."

"You tell me not to scared? Now that's rich."

Meredith waved her hand dismissively. "The point is that being settled isn't bad at all. I love my life the way it is. I wouldn't trade it for anything. In the end, I am kind of convinced we create our own version of happiness and if others don't like it, then they can seriously go screw themselves."

Mark just nodded and offered her a little grin. They settled into silence for a good two more minutes and then suddenly Derek's familiar voice was coming over the speaker. "Hey, Mer! They're going to get you and Mark out of there immediately. The work crew is on their way now. Are you okay, honey?"

Meredith immediately sprung to her feet at hearing Derek's voice. A part of her wanted to cry with relief. She started to reply but then stopped and glanced over at Mark. She offered him a little smile before she called back over the speaker.

_"Yeah, Derek, I'm fine. No worries."_

.FINIS.


End file.
